On Friday, two upscale restrobars in Kamala Mills, Mumbai were ravaged by a fire which resulted in the death of 14 persons. As a result of the tragedy, the Shiv Sena led Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, decided to buckle up and order the safety audit of pubs and restaurants in the city. The civic body also started to demolish illegal structures in six parts of the city.
An illegal demolition drive also started in the Kamala mills area but the BMC officials soon came under the scanner for their unusual demolition choices:
https://twitter.com/ANI/status/946978026134257664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
During any demolition drive, the structures usually demolished are illegal building constructions, hazardous electric wiring among others. But these BMC demolishes in Kamala Mills decided that, potted plants too came under the purview of an illegal construction and ruthlessly decided to demolish them:
https://twitter.com/MFuturewala/status/946989338746691584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
People as a result weren’t happy with the BMC and decided to react:
https://twitter.com/divya_16_/status/946979014459121665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/Ace_Of_Pace/status/947001875139661824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/ashb309/status/946986627972268032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/abhijitmajumder/status/947020403070746624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/barbarindian/status/947019015221805058?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/rakeshfilm/status/947016833592279041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
It wasn’t clear as to why the BMC officials couldn’t simply relocate these plants to a safe area, in a day an age when green spaces are fast disappearing from Mumbai. It also raises the question as to what laws were the plants violating by being present there, and whether they would come under the purview of ‘license raj’ in the future.